The Take - 9 minutes

Choreographed and Written by: Joel Smith

Performed by: Gabriel Mata, Rocio Cruz, Evelyn Cortes, Sara Arzivu, Bel-Tran Fi, Leticia Garcia,

Original Music by: Alexander Tovar

Costumes by: Heather Gillette

 

Commissioned by: Santa Ana College Dance Department.

 

Premiered at The American College Dance Association Festival, Performing Arts Center, Modesto Junior College. Modesto, CA. Thursday, March 8, 2012.

This Performance: Santa Ana College Spring Dance Concert. Santa Ana, CA. April, 2012

 

Part talking dance, part live action drama, "The Take" reads like a script with character development and choreographic action. Each dancer introduces themselves while describing what their role is in the dance. They foreshadow what the audience is about to see while also giving a play by play of the action. Filled with high drama, one man leaves his female lover for another man, and tension ensues as role-playing begins with dancers ending up in precarious partnering, awkward pairings and groupings.  The dance uses accumulation and retrograde as structures for developing photographic images, stills that come to life, then rewind, and redo.